Senator Hatch's Napster Epiphany
Music & MP3
10/23/2000; 11:32:16 AM

'The kinks and twists and political intrigues attaching to this story [Napster vs. DMCA vs. DMCA author] are only beginning to show, and one can only delight in contemplating what might come next. What we have thus far is a stiff-collared conservative Senator renouncing his own, industry-accommodating legislation on behalf of some punk Internet start-up venture; a pseudo-hip and nominally Democratic White House desperately trying to enforce the Draconian provisions of the stiff-collared conservative Senator's original, industry-accommodating legislation; and an extraordinarily talented lawyer with, until now, respectable Establishment credentials suddenly disdaining the political machine for which he had recently done battle, and cheered by, you guessed it, the stiff-collared conservative Senator whose crummy legislation failed to protect Napster from recording-industry abuse in the first place.

'Ultimately, it all makes perfect sense: only Washington could actually be more ridiculous than Hollywood.'

This is worth reading, even if you've been following the story. Seein everything in quick succession brings home how crazy this whole thing has been.